Monday, December 10, 2012

Entertaining during the holidays usually means plenty of
costly, complicated, and time-consuming recipes, so absolutely no one would blame you if
you simply tossed a tube of store-bought dinner rolls into the oven to save a
little time and effort.

Of course the problem with that, at least for loyal
followers of this blog, is that some or all of your family members will have
seen this video by then, and you may get a few looks. Not that they would never
question your undying love and devotion to their happiness, but hey, why take a chance?

Assuming that you have an electric mixer, besides a few
minutes of cutting and balling the dough, these really aren’t that much work to
make. If you don’t, and would have to knead this by hand, then let your
conscience be your guide. I think I speak for your entire family when I say, we
know you’ll do the right thing.

Anyway, as far as holiday dinner rolls go, these are pretty
lean. You can certainly up the melted butter amount, and toss in a egg or two,
but since these are generally going to be eaten with fairly rich food, I prefer a lighter approach.

Please feel free to embellish with anything else you’d like
to toss in. I’ll toss out garlic, herbs, cheese, seeds, and nuts just to start
the brainstorming session. I hope you come up with something amazing, and give
these a try soon. Enjoy!

about 3 cups unbleached all-purpose white flour, plus more
if needed (NOTE: add about 2 1/2 cups of flour at the beginning of the mixing,
and then add more in smaller increments until the dough just starts to pull
away from the bowl. Remember, you can always add more, but can’t remove too
much! Better a little too sticky than too stiff and dry.)2 tbsp olive oil (to oil the dough)

61 comments:

Gorgeous and impressive, for both the cook and other people. I'll do a test batch. That's it. Just to make sure they're as good as they look. Yes, that's the ticket. It has nothing at all to do with the thought that a batch before entertaining means I get to enjoy them in overabundance.

Could one freeze these just after the balling stage to make them in advance? I have a small kitchen and I'll have a few other food wishes recipes going at the same time. We're doing the goose again because it was simply awesome last year. Also, my wife would like to thank you for the gingerbread whoopee pies I made her. Thanks again, Chef.

For the love of god, thank you so much for putting a temperature for the water to stand the yeast in. The hardest thing (as an amateur cook/chef/baker)is finding out what the right temperature for the water would be. Every baker I asked, the answer I got was a shrug and "warm".

Diane & liev-foryou, I've only used dry active yeast since I was 8 years old, so I'm not sure of the differences, but a trip to google should take care of any specific questions. I don't think it really matters though.

SpeedRacer105, Never tried freezing halfway through, so again, can't comment on if it works or not.

Heather, The giant cutting board was a hand-me-down, and looks homemade to me. Very, very old.

Unknown, just add some minced garlic to the dough when you form the rolls or use garlic oil.

ToddGBaker, just brush with milk. Won't be as brown but better than nothing!

Thank you for this wonderful recipe. I tried it fort christmas eve, along with your cauliflower cream with gremolata. My parents were delighted, and my Mom who is very moderate kept eating more rolls... They are extra tasty, wow.

And I want to add that I used instant yeast, in a bread machine, it worked really really well. Thanks !

Your recipes never account for humidity. this dough never pulled away from the bowl even after adding an extra cup of flour. I had to through all of it in the trash. I had much the same problem with your macaron recipe. it was the worst of the three I tried. I like your videos well enough, but I have yet to find anything that I can actually make. And I can make croissants!

Humidity can be a factor, but not so big as to cause a recipe to be so off you are throwing away product. I suspect something else is going on also. I've heard from hundreds that this recipe came out wonderfully (and I've made many time (in very moist San Francisco). Again, if the dough is too wet to form a dough ball in the mixer, then no matter what the humidity is, you still need to add more flour in. Don't understand the part about stopping and tossing everything out.

Hi I Chef John,I have a question for you. I couldn't get the seam on each roll sealed properly and they almost didn't rise or proof at all even after 45 minutes. I think this un-sealed form is letting all the air out. How can I improve this?

Happy New Year! I tried the pulla part recipe again with an extra cup of flour. They turned out nicely. Here is a link to the photos of the results along with photos of my very successful Tiramisu Mousse and a brioche that is unrelated. Thank you for your patience!http://tinyurl.com/aenrvax

I've noticed that while you have taken the time to write out the ingredients list, you did not write out the directions. What about doing that so those of us who are hearing impared can make the recipes without having to struggle to hear the directions in a YouTube video?

Thank you so much for this recipe Chef! I found Food Wishes through a friend and it's becoming an addiction! I've been trying to start baking bread and this was the perfect first recipe. The video format is ideal and really helpful in trying to figure out what the dough should look like.

First of all, thanks a ton for posting this recipe! The ingredients and preparations are just exquisite and so crafted- but I'd like to just suggest something. have you ever thought of using cream honey instead of normal honey?

Thank you so much for your amazing recipes...I have to tell you, I love your voice and your upbeat manner, nice change from the food snobs, it makes me smile everytime I hear you. Anyways, aside from kissing up I was wondering if those rolls could be used as burger buns, I have been searching for a recipe but this is the first one that grabbed my attention. We have mastered the most amazing burgers on the egg but would love to up the ante with some homemade buns. Thanks a bunch!!!

You crack me up ! These look amazing ! I just plucked a bunch of rosemary off my plant and I am going to try these for a ladies luncheon I have tomorrow. Thanks again for the recipe and the laugh! I really enjoy your videos

Made these a few weeks ago, so delicious! I was wondering how to modify the recipe to make the richer version. You mentioned tossing in an egg or two or upping the butter, how would that affect the rest of the ingredients, or do they stay the same? Also how much more butter should you add?

The hamburger buns and no knead bread was delicious and perfect! My husband love it and thank you...your recipies are the only ones i made right..im a married asian girl in norway with no experience with baking and most of all cooking western food...thank you very much :)

Chef John this recipe is a life saver!! I was given the task of making HOMEMADE dinner rolls for my work's annual Thanksgiving potluck. I never felt my skill level was up to par for making bread/rolls but this recipe and your video helped so much. I was very nervous because my reputation as a competent cook was on the line. The rolls turned out even better than I expected, which was confirmed by my coworkers' praises. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you again. You are awesome!!

Hey Chef John, been watching your videos for a couple years now and have made quite a number of your recipes. I made this in the past but I was wondering if using "better for bread" flour would change the measurements at all? Or what exactly does bread flour do differently than All Purpose? Trying to make this for a potluck on Sunday.

I tried this recipe for this Thanksgiving I cooked for my boyfriend's family. They loved them! I made the mistake of not letting them proof for 30 minutes, and they remained just a bit too small. Somehow they still loved them immensely, and I was wondering. Would it be possible to just bake the dough as one large bread? His family normally eats bread on the side with their dinner, so it was an idea. I may just try it and see what happens.

Thank you for all of your incredibly easy instructions, blogs, and videos and endless sass! Because of you I so terribly want to own and operate my own diner!

These rolls were fantastic! The hint of rosemary with the slightly salty top made them a real winner. I had to add a little more flour as it was very humid, but I just kept adding until the dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl. Chef John this recipe is a winner - I really enjoy your videos too. Well done!

Hi Chef John!!! I love you! Your recipes are amazing and I just love that they're quick to the point and all about the food. Love the humour and cheekiness too! Okay my question, can I make this into one large loaf? I've made these rolls several times with huge success and I wanted to make a loaf for my kids sandwiches, toast etc. Also, how do I adjust time? Thanks!

Thanks so much for this recipe! My 12 year old son and I did this today. We do not have a dough mixer so I made him knead the dough. Of course he loved it because the texture is soft and pliable. Anyways, he could not wait until it was done and once it was...well so was half the batch!

Made these this past weekend. Very good but could still use some enhancements. You could add pineapple juice to this recipe and have a Hawaiian role or you could add eggs for a brioche roll. A very good baseline recipe.

Every time I try one of your recipes it seems it's the best ever. Your rolls were the hit of Thanksgiving dinner!Even the turkey didn't have a chance. They were gone in five minutes! I knew I should have made two batches.

Loved these rolls. I decided to make these on Thanksgiving, last minute. I had them lined up on the silicone pad and cookie sheet. They proofed in the 1 hour drive to my aunt's house. These were so great! Thank you Chef John!